O'Sullivan rocks Masters title

00:08:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments



Ronnie O'Sullivan - the 2014 Masters champion
Eight days of intensive cue-crossings concluded tonight when Ronnie O'Sullivan beat defending champion Mark Selby by an excruciating 10-4 scoreline to win the Dafabet 2014 Masters title (the 5th of his career).

Far from the tight and dramatic final that many of us expected, the grand finale still guarded a few tricks and moments of suspense, beside the obvious "unplayable" O'Sullivan who dominated the arena from the very beginning of the match, until the last of the balls was potted.

Breaking the ice with a myriad of runs of 97, 70 and 96, the Rocket was taking off towards a dangerous 3-0 scoreline, before Selby could have an honest to God chance and make a difference.

Frame four revealed a pretty shaky Selby (no wonder since he spent most of his time away from the table), thus blowing away a few valuable chances to go 3-1 down. And so, the mid-session interval was finding the Essex-man fully in-charge of the match's faith, at 4-0.

Mark Selby - the 2014 Masters runner-up
On the same note, as the lads returned into the arena, runs of 37 and 47 were pushing Ronnie even further, at 5-0, leaving Selby devastated.

Still, the defending champion found the strength to fight back and with a break of 36 and a 27 clearance, he managed to clinch his first frame of the day.

Interestingly enough the Gods seemed to stick by his side during the next frame, but when it ended on a re-spotted black and Selby missed the opportunity to close the deal, his prayers proved in vain. It was 6-1.

One more frame went into Ronnie's bag and at 7-1, the first session was concluded. Three more frames needed and the reigning world champion would lift that glassy trophy.

Punch in the air from the winner
The final resumed with the same eager-to-win O'Sullivan, who used a break of 90 to go 8-1 up, just before Selby could show a bit of form and win a dramatic frame which came down to the last black (payback time, one would think!) and grab another one with a break of 67. 

Considering these two wins, one would easily think that it might just be the start of a beautiful comeback, but today Selby was far from the man who dominated Shaun Murphy in the semis, his concentration and determination being, sadly, quite poor.

O'Sullivan won a scrappy 12th frame to go one away from victory (9-3), when Selby pulled another one of his special tricks to prolong the suspense and get a frame into the bag.

Sharing his moment of glory with Lilly and Ronnie Jr
Still, it was a bit too late, as Rocket Ronnie ended the final with a break of 72 for a definitive 10-4 win.

The crowed almost exploded as the newly champion punched the air, soon after being surrounded by his two adorable kids, Lilly and Ronnie Jr at lifting his 5th Masters trophy.

Having said that it’s crystal clear that this has been an almost flawless performance from the man who in three months from now will be defending his world champion crown at the Crucible. And who knows what surprise he has for the snooker fans?!

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The 2014 Masters (the semis) - Selby and Rocket Ronnie in the final

00:35:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Selby will defend his Masters crown
There have been some crazy, crazy days here at Alexandra Palace and today it all went down to just two players: on one side we have Mark Selby, the defending champion who beat Shaun Murphy 6-1 in the semi-final and on the other side we have the simply surprising Ronnie O'Sullivan who extinguish Maguire's fire with a 6-2 scoreline.

Today's semis have been far from the ones most of us expected to be (aka. tight matches) for it seemed only one of the two players were actually there in the arena potting balls. Weird enough since both Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire had a very good run during this year's Masters.

For Murphy though, it was painful because the match made its debut with two cracking breaks of 86 and 104, signed by an outstanding Mark Selby, breaks that left the Smurf speechless ... or should I say potless? Bottom line it wasn't until the third frame that he actually managed to pot a ball.

An out-of-form Murphy talks about retirement
Still, that didn't mean he win it, for Selby was sure to grab it with a break of 50, as well as the following one, this time with a 62.

So, the mid-session interval was finding Selby on top at 4-0. Troubling times for "The Magician"! 

And sadly, his troubles were far from being over as after re-entering the arena the defending champion, although not as sharp as before, carefully managed to add one more frame to his collection.

Finally, after a break of 25 and one hell of a fight, Murphy managed to win a frame and avoid whitewash. 

Rocket Ronnie is in the final
However, everything was ended very soon by a very determined Selby who was eagerly grabbing his place in the final.

Seriously disappointed by his performance, Murphy has even mentioned retirement after the match, leaving his fans and the snooker fans for that matter, in total shock. Hopefully after the frustration wears off, he will reconsider his position.

The second semi-final gathered another two great kings of the green baize: Maguire and O'Sullivan and as before I dared to wish for a more close battle of cues. Unfortunately I wasn't granted the wish.

Maguire's fire was nowhere to be seen tonight
Although Maguire stormed in and opened with a great 98 break, what it followed had nothing in common with it.

Not only did O'Sullivan drew level, but he also put his nose in front with a 73 and continued to climb supported by breaks of 40, 40, 27 and 59, to go just one away from victory.

And if you think that those breaks don't make justice for Ronnie, I must tell you that he was far from the man who beat Ricky Walden the other day and broke the record and far from the player we all know he can be; still he got the best of the match and that says a lot.

Ronnie Jr is supporting his dad
Even if Maguire won the next frame on a dramatically last black, Ronnie put on one of his special century breaks (129) by leaving the last of the balls on the table and went on to win the match, 6-2.

Tomorrow the Rocket will meet the player he refers to as "The Torturer" for what we all hope to be a total and utter cracker.

First session will be broadcasted on the BBC from 1.30pm, while the second one from 7pm.  

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The 2014 Masters (Day 3) - "Superman" Murphy and Rocket Ronnie

23:45:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

The Smurf is back
The third day here at Ally Pally and it couldn't have started "better” than with a power cut that delayed the first match by more than one hour.

Still, this didn't interfere with Shaun Murphy's eagerness to prove that he's still got it, as he launched himself in a brilliant 6-4 win over Ding Junhui. Ronnie O'Sullivan meet Masters' debutant Robert Milkins in a match that had a pretty foreseeable end (Rocket won it by 6-1) although it didn’t feature a Ronnie at his best.

We might know him as "Magician Murphy", but today Shaun was Superman (well, the fact that he changed his walk-on song to the Superman soundtrack might have something to do with it also).

Early exit for Ding
Far from having a good season and sadly far from being in a good form for quite some time now, Shaun managed to prove us wrong and launched himself in a fearless battle against a very powerful opponent, Ding Junhui.

However, it was the "little" Chinese star who took the lead with breaks of 99 and 84 for a 2-0 scoreline, before Murphy could do anything and draw level by performing in runs of 71 and 64 as the mid-session interval was settling in.

The cue-battle continued on the same note, Ding taking a two-frame lead after the interval by using just a top break of 70. It was 4-2. And like before, Murphy crawled back and won two consecutive frames to make it four apiece.

Rocket not at his best, but still winning
Getting the best of a tremendous safety shot battle, Murphy managed to put his nose in front for the very first time the next frame being strategically fought-for and grabbed with a top break of 43, for a final 6-4 scoreline.

No more power cuts, but no more fireworks either: that's how the next match could be described. On one side we had a not-at-his-best Ronnie O'Sullivan (although the geniality sparkle was hard not to be noticed ... still) and on the other we had the Masters' debutant Robert Milkins totally out-of-shape and leaving the nerves getting to him.

A very disappointed Milkman
It was with a beautiful myriad of  breaks like 48, 40, 84, 42, 42, 91, 62 and 59 that Ronnie put his name on the quarter-finals list, although he had one more frame to won (the scoreline being 5-0), when Milkins managed to avoid the whitewash and win one of his own.

He punched the air, but unfortunately for him the Rocket ended the snooker affair the frame after, for a clear result of 6-1.

Ronnie Wood and Jimmy White supporting Ronnie
Sadly Milkins's performance was a classic tale of missed opportunities, while O'Sullivans' was a classic I-am-the-one-and-only-no-other-I-would-rather-be type of performance. Or something like that.

Jokes aside, Ronnie, even though far from his best, made a pretty dangerous statement (through this match) regarding him and the Masters trophy - he wants it!

Wednesday the battle continues as it follows:

1pm Neil Robertson v Mark Allen
7pm Barry Hawkins v Ricky Walden


*UK time

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The 2014 Masters (Day 2) - Fu-rious Marco exits Trump, Maguire fires victory over Perry

00:41:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Fu in top form
Another day on the green baize, another two very interesting and quite dramatic snooker encounters.

Judd Trump, though in not such a great form this season, but as usual favourite to win matches, saw his hopes shattered as a very furious Marco Fu beat him by a typical 6-5 to get a place in the quarter-finals, while Stephen Maguire fired his anger towards "The Gentleman" Joe Perry and ended his early Masters dream by 6-4.

Everyone was expecting the match were Judd Trump and Marco Fu were the two main characters, for we all knew fireworks were in order. And we weren't disappointed.

Although he started with his left foot, Trump leaving the opener to go into his opponent's bag due to missing the frame ball, he was quick enough to draw level and even go one ahead, by using a 87 break.

Trump's Masters dream ends in the first round
But the mid-session interval found the boys all square at two apiece, the situation being changed only by Fu's 138 that put him in the lead.

Still, this wasn't an acceptable situation for Judd who grabbed the following two frames (and hit a century in the process) to go 4-3 up.

Fu backfired and won the next two frames to go one away from victory, minutes after a great 101 from Trump forced the decider to take place.

A tricky missed black and 78 points later Fu was winning by 6-5, thus getting a well-deserved place in the next round.

The second snooker encounter of the day was another interesting match, the ever-fire-breathing-dragon from Scotland (yeah, I know that the Dragon represents Wales, but I had to make a connection between the on-fire Maguire and ... well, Maguire) managing to overcome the "Gentleman “Joe Perry by 6-4.

On-fire Maguire, at least for the 1st part of the match
Still, the interesting bit was that the first part of the match was a real crack, while the second one seemed like a scene from Selby v. Selby match.

Great breaks of 112 and 80 were securing the first two frames of the match for Maguire, while Perry was responding with a courageous 78 break to grab his first frame. And he would have continued on that note, if he wasn't stopped by missing a horrible red during the fourth frames, hence the scoreline became 3-1 at the interval.

After the mini-break a very-different Maguire, totally unfocused and gone (with the wind probably) scrapped his way to win the next two frames and go just one away from victory.

Great effort from the "Gentleman", but a bit too late
It was 5-1 and it looked ominous, but Perry wasn't giving up his dream, so with runs of 46, 27 and a great 106 he was pulling back no less than three consecutive frames!!! Now, that's something!

Sadly for him though and luckily for Maguire the next frame marked the end of this cue-crossing, runs of 28 and 37 putting the best player where he belongs: in the winners' lounge (aka. the QFs, if in doubt)

Tomorrow, or on Tuesday (depending on when you read this) the battle continues with:

1pm Ding Junhui v Shaun Murphy
7pm Ronnie O'Sullivan v Robert Milkins

*UK time

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The 2014 Masters (Day 1) - Selby's drama and Higgins's return to shape

00:35:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Selby reaches the quarter-finals
A very interesting start here at Ally Pally for this year's edition of the prestigious Masters tournament. It all started with a pure drama featuring the names of the defending champion, Mark Selby and his namesake, Mark Davis and ended with a revived John Higgins who took on Stuart Bingham.

But first things, first: the defending champion and his rival - Mark Selby and Mark Davis. Who would have thought that this was to end on a decider? I know I didn't. Especially since the "Jester" seemed to be in control of the match ... well, at least part of it.

Furious and decided to retain his title, Selby started his match by firing in breaks of 59, 80, 22, 36, 35 and 58, enough to see him go 4-0 ahead of a flabbergasted Mark Davis.

Great comeback from Mark Davis, but not enough
But as the mid-session interval was coming to an end (yeah, it started a bit late because there was some shitty situation regarding the earpieces that weren't properly sending the voices of Dennis Taylor and Stephen Hendry through the public's ears, so each mini-break when the ref Paul Collier was re-arranging the table was prolonged due to this issue). So where was I? Oh yeah, the mid-session interval was coming to an end .... right, so Davis decided to take his chance and try a comeback.

Breaks of 80, 43 and 20 helped him win two frames (the second frame was dramatically won on the black) before Selby launched himself to go just one away from victory, at 5-2.

The earpieces situation
And that's when all hell broke loose and Selby lost his concentration, Davis pushing his luck and hitting a marvellous 136 break to go two frames behind and using runs of 49, 62 and 61 to force the decider.

Please note that frame nine was also won on the black. This was becoming the leitmotiv of the first day.

A scrappy and very tense decider saw both players taking turns at the table, in the end though, Selby managing to keep himself in the run for the trophy and winning 6-5 over Mark Davis.

Second match of the day featured the favourite-to-win Stuart Bingham, taking on a pretty rusty John Higgins. But that were just the headlines of an old story, for today Bingham was the one unable to settle in and Higgins was the one rocking around the snooker table.

Higgins's back on track?
Runs of 31 and 38 were breaking the ice for the Scottish player, but Bingham was sure to respond back in time with a top break of 48 and tie at one apiece. Please note that Stu won this frame on the black. Déjà vu?

However everything seemed to fall apart for the Englishman as from this point on the stage was Higgins's. Each ball seemed to answer to John's will and each time Bingham was making a mistake John was practically feeding on it.

That's how with an almost perfect cue action, Higgins managed to hit in breaks of 50, 94, 65 and 109 to go one step closer to the finish-line, at 5-1.

One very disappointed Stuart Bingham
Bingham put on quite an effort and won one more frame with a great 91 break, but in the end, although the last frame was pure torture and it lasted more than any other frames of the match, Higgins capitalized and ended the snooker affair with a final scoreline of 6-2.

After seeing Higgins playing that last frame, which was a reminder of how Selby usually plays, I can't help of smiling of the prospect that these two will meet in the quarter-finals.

On Monday the cue action continues with two more matches, as it follows:

1pm Judd Trump v Marco Fu
7pm Stephen Maguire v Joe Perry

*UK time 

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